CHESTER — The first thing manager John Hackworth says he needs from his team this season is simple: Consistency.

From game to game and week to week, the most persistent name on the team sheet is also the one who shoulders the largest part of that burden.

Last year, Zac MacMath was a 20-year-old rookie, labeled the goalkeeper of the future and thrown into the fire after captain Faryd Mondragon’s sudden departure. This year, he’s among the most stable links between eras past and future in Hackworth’s first full season in charge.

And there will be pressure heaped onto the young keeper.

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“I think he is one of the players that we’re going to lean on very heavily to do exactly that,” Hackworth said Wednesday at his weekly press conference. “He has to be consistent week in and week out for us to be successful. He’s been here knowing that he’s going to be the number one. He has that swagger about him, that confidence. You can see that very easily. But the reality is that he has to make some key plays in games and keep us in it when he can. He’s got to be solid in all areas so that from that standpoint he allows us to be successful.”

MacMath’s rookie campaign was interrupted in May when he suffered a concussion in a loss to Seattle. He was back between the posts the following week but didn’t look quite right in a 3-2 loss to New York that earned him a few weeks of rest as the Union shuttled between U.S. Open Cup and friendly dates.

Though given a clean bill of health, something seemed amiss at times with MacMath as the season wore on. He was prone to errors and wandering trips out of the six-yard box. In 32 starts, he allowed 43 goals for a goals-against average of 1.34. His save percentage in league play was a mere 68.4, and despite moments of brilliance, he rarely looked like the type of goalkeeper to steal a win for an offensively challenged Union team desperately in need of one.

MacMath doesn’t feel any pressure translating his maiden MLS voyage into what he hopes will be sustained success this season.

“I wouldn’t say that there’s any big challenges just yet,” he said Wednesday. “It’s just mixing in all the guys from the older veterans that have come in from last year and the new guys that have come in trying to get everyone on the same page with everything.”

The process of integrating new players has been a particularly salient one for MacMath in goal. While last season he was able to grow alongside young defenders like Amobi Okugo and Carlos Valdes, this season he inherits an entirely new pairing to break in.

Veterans Jeff Parke and Bakary Soumare look poised to assume the central defense roles this season, with well-traveled Chris Albright likely third on the depth chart. That’s three defenders with an average age about a decade older than MacMath.

Soumare and Albright, though plagued with injuries, were at least around the training ground last season, while Parke arrived in the winter from Seattle, where he’s played the last five seasons. While changes abound, MacMath is sticking to the central tenets of his preparation.

“It doesn’t change my preparation,” MacMath said. “It’s great for the team. Everyone just spent the last six weeks getting to know each other, learning how to communicate with each other. I think the backline is looking good right now.”

There are certainly differences in what each defender brings. Soumare, the 6-4 Malian, for instance, brings an aerial presence missing in last year’s pairing, one that perhaps may make MacMath more trusting and reticent to challenge balls played into the box.

But in his preseason observations, Hackworth sees Parke’s particular style as offering the biggest change of pace from last season’s tandem.

“Jeff’s a vocal center back, tries to organize people really well,” Hackworth said. “And that’s helped Zac I think, because Zac tries to do the same thing. There’s not a comparison of Carlos vs. Jeff, but Carlos was a center back who was a little more instinctive, led with his actions a little more than with his words, and Jeff is more of an organizer there, and I think that helps Zac because he certainly likes that as well.”

The changes on the other end of the pitch affect MacMath as well. With a more potent attack, bolstered by the return of Sebastien Le Toux and the acquisition of Conor Casey, the imperative to win 1-0 games isn’t as palpable.

Well, at least in theory.

“I don’t think I’ll feel less pressure until they start scoring goals,” MacMath said. “Hopefully the goals will come a lot easier this year and that can take the pressure off a little bit, but obviously, every game there’s going to be challenges and keeping shutouts can be difficult each game.”